A director of quality improvement could work in a wide variety of fields, from health care to manufacturing. A director, according to the American Society for Quality, has organization-wide responsibility for all improvement efforts, including strategic planning, policy development, training, coaching and measurement. With all those responsibilities, there’s plenty of room for personal improvement as well.

Planning Enhances Performance

Steven Covey, author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” notes that the first step in setting personal goals is a planning session. The purpose of a planning session is introspection to identify specific goals. Covey suggests many people will benefit from creating a personal goal statement that clearly identifies what the goal is and why it is important. The next step is to make your goals specific -- develop a timeline and identify the actual steps you will take to reach your goals.

Get Smart

O*NET Online reports that 11 percent of quality directors had some college but no degree, while 73 percent held a bachelor’s degree in 2012. Upgrading your education might be the first place you look for self-improvement. The actual degree you choose will depend on your circumstances. If you are a registered nurse with a nursing diploma or associate degree, for example, you might choose a bachelor’s degree in quality assurance, such as the degree available from California State University at Dominguez Hills. An engineer with a bachelor’s degree might choose to go on for a master’s in that field.

Set Your Sights on Certification

Certification is another possible personal goal for a quality improvement director. As with degrees, certifications vary according to discipline. The National Association for Healthcare Quality offers a certification for both clinical and non-clinical quality professionals in the health care field. The American Society for Quality offers certifications in biomedical auditing, quality management and organizational excellence, pharmaceutical professions, quality engineering, and software quality engineering. Education and experience requirements vary according to the organization and individual certification.

The Personal Stuff

Leadership and communication skills are important in the field of quality improvement. Active listening and communicating in a way that effectively conveys information, for example, are basic components of day-to-day work. Technical skills, such as the use of quality tools in the laboratory or proficiency in compliance and analytical software, may also be important. Any of these proficiencies could offer an opportunity to educate yourself or improve your performance in a certain area and would lend themselves to personal goal-setting.

About the Author

Beth Greenwood is an RN and has been a writer since 2010. She specializes in medical and health topics, as well as career articles about health care professions. Greenwood holds an Associate of Science in nursing from Shasta College.